Notification for reassembly-free file scanning

ABSTRACT

Techniques for notification of reassembly-free file scanning are described herein. According to one embodiment, a first request for accessing a document provided by a remote node is received from a client. In response to the first request, it is determined whether a second request previously for accessing the document of the remote node indicates that the requested document from the remote node contains offensive data. If the requested document contains offensive data, a message is returned to the client, without accessing the requested document of the remote node, indicating that the requested document is not delivered to the client.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation and claims the priority benefit ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/837,779 filed Aug. 13, 2007, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 60/932,953 filed Jun.5, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to anti-virus protection. Moreparticularly, this invention relates to notification for reassembly-freefile scanning of anti-virus protection.

BACKGROUND

A computer virus is a self-replicating program designed to spreadwithout user intervention or knowledge. Computer viruses are spread byattaching themselves to another program, such as a macro attached toe-mail. A worm is a type of computer virus that can transmit itself to asecond computer over a network. The increased access to e-mail at theworkplace has allowed viruses and worms to spread at a much faster rate.The number of viruses “in the wild,” or present in more than one companyor organization, has increased dramatically since widespread Internetaccess has become available.

Most companies allow Internet access by creating a local area network(LAN). Access to the LAN by the Internet is protected by a “firewall”.Such a network allows programs on one computer to be accessed by all thecomputers on the LAN. Unfortunately, this access means that once a virusinfects one computer, all the other computers in a LAN may soon beinfected as well.

The standard protection against virus is an anti-virus softwareapplication that analyzes software applications and isolates any latentviruses. This anti-virus software has a set of virus characteristicsthat the software searches for in the computer. Each time a new virus iscreated or evolved, a new anti-virus characteristic must be updated tothe computer in order for the anti-virus software to detect the virus.

In general, anti-virus software may be installed directly into thefirewall of a gateway device. The firewall attempts to scan for viruseson the fly while the client computer is receiving the data and thenaborts the transfer if a virus is detected. However, when the anti-virussoftware detects that the data contains a virus, a portion of the datahas already been received by the client. When the connection isterminated, the client would not know the reasons behind the terminationof the connection (e.g., because of a virus).

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

Techniques for notification of reassembly-free file scanning aredescribed herein. According to one embodiment, a first request foraccessing a document provided by a remote node is received from aclient. In response to the first request, it is determined whether asecond request previously for accessing the document of the remote nodeindicates that the requested document from the remote node containsoffensive data. If the requested document contains offensive data, amessage is returned to the client, without accessing the requesteddocument of the remote node, indicating that the requested document isnot delivered to the client.

Other features of the present invention will be apparent from theaccompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network configuration which may beimplemented with one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a network access device according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for content scanningaccording to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for processing such arefresh user action according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data structurefor storing information regarding previous requests according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a process for generating a failed requestdata structure according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a network of computer systems, which may be usedwith an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a digital processing system which may beused with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques for notification of reassembly-free file scanning aredescribed herein. In the following description, numerous details are setforth to provide a more thorough explanation of embodiments of thepresent invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in theart, that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced withoutthese specific details. In other instances, well-known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in orderto avoid obscuring embodiments of the present invention.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification do not necessarily all refer to thesame embodiment.

When a file such as an HTTP (hypertext transport protocol) file isdownloaded and scanned for viruses without reassembling the entire file(e.g., sending a portion of the file to a client while scanning theremaining portion of the file for viruses), it is challenging to notifythe client if the virus were detected and prevented in a user-friendlymanner (e.g., by showing an HTML or hypertext markup language block pagein addition to terminating the connection). According to one embodiment,the HTTP clientless notification feature is designed to address a user'sfrustration of TCP (transport control protocol) connection being resetif security threat is detected during an HTTP transaction.Conventionally, when connection is reset, the user does not know whatcould be the reasons behind the connection termination. According to oneembodiment, the HTTP clientless notification feature allows a user tosee a block page on the subsequent access (e.g., refresh) of the samefile with information about a virus or a spyware that was detected. Theterm of “clientless” is referred to the situation that a user or aclient machine does not need to install or maintain client software inorder to download a document from a remote node. For example, only a Webbrowser is needed to access a Web server to download a Web page or filefrom the Web server.

Note that throughout this application, a HTML or Web page is used as anexample of a document and a Web server is used as an example of a remotefacility hosting the document; however, other types of documents mayalso be applied. Also note that throughout this application, a virusand/or spyware is used as an example of offensive data; however, othertypes of offensive data may also be applied.

According to one embodiment, antivirus protection software is installedin a network access device such as a gateway device with a datastructure to maintain any previous failed requests for access certaindocuments of remote nodes that have been detected to have offensive datasuch as viruses or spywares. When the viruses and/or spywares aredetected, the connection is terminated and the information regarding therequested document and/or remote node (e.g., URL and/or IP address) isstored and maintained within the data structure. When the user or clientsubsequently tries to access the same document of the same remote node(e.g., refresh), the information of the viruses or spywares associatedwith the requested document may be retrieved from the data structure. Adescription of this information such as the reasons regarding why thecurrent and previous connections would be terminated without accessingthe requested document. As a result, a user or client would know why thedocument cannot be accessed or the network connection was terminated.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network configuration which may beimplemented with one embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1,in one embodiment, the network configuration 100 includes a networkaccess device 102 providing network access services for one or moreclients 104-105 over a local area network 103. In order to access aremote facilities 106-107 (e.g., Web servers) over an external network101, each of the clients 104-105 has to go through the network accessdevice 102 and optionally, a network service provider (e.g., an Internetservice provider or ISP) in order to access remote facilities 106-107.

In one embodiment, the connection between the network access device 102and the external network 101 may be a wired connection. Alternatively,such a connection may be a wireless connection; for example, a satelliteor an IEEE 802.1x compatible connection. The external network 101 may bea wide area network (WAN), such as, for example, the Internet. The LAN103 may be a home network using an IEEE 802.1x compatible protocol.Alternatively, the LAN 103 may be a local network within an organization(e.g., an Intranet). The LAN 103 may be a wired or wireless network, ora combination of both, using a variety of network protocols, such as,Ethernet and/or IEEE 802.1x compatible protocols, such as, for example,Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth protocols. Wireless connections may include bothRF and non-RF links, for example, an IR link. Wired connections mayinclude both electrical and non-electrical links, for example, fiberoptic links.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a network access device according to oneembodiment. For example, network access device 201 may be implemented aspart of network device 102 of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, networkaccess device 201 is communicatively coupled to a client 202 over afirst network (e.g., LAN) and is communicatively coupled to a remoteserver 203 over a second network (e.g., WAN). In addition, networkaccess device 201 includes a routing module, content scanning module 205such as an antivirus (or anti spyware) module, and a failed requesttable 206. The routing module 204 is used to route data packets betweenclient 202 and server 203. In addition, routing module 204 may invokeantivirus module 205 to perform virus or spyware scanning. The antivirusmodule 205 may perform reassembly-free content scanning while therouting module 204 transmitting at least a portion of the contentreceived from server 203 to client 202.

According to one embodiment, when a Web page is received at the networkaccess device 201, which may be requested by client 202, the networkaccess device 201 may invoke a content scanning or filtering module 205to perform virus and/pr spyware scanning against certain virus/spywaredata patterns. When a virus/spyware is detected, the connection with theremote server 203 is terminated. As a result, the client 202 thatoriginated the request may receive a blank page. Meanwhile, the networkaccess device 201 may extract the URL of the Web page and/or the address(e.g., IP address) of the remote server from the request received fromclient 202 and store this information in a data structure 206 (alsoreferred to as a failed request table herein). In addition, informationregarding the virus/spyware may also be stored in the data structure206. The information may include one or more reasons why the connectionhas been terminated in view of the detected virus and/or spyware. When auser receives a blank page, the user may not know why the previousrequest has failed. As a human nature, the user may retry again by“refreshing” the page from a browser application. As a result, a secondrequest for the same Web page of the same server is transmitted fromclient 202 and received by the network access device 201. Note that auser may not retry by “refreshing” the page. There may not be anythingspecific (e.g., user guide) which tells the user how to react. Howeverin practice most of the users behaved in this predictable manner (e.g.,all “refreshed”).

When the network access device 201 receives the second request, thenetwork access device 201 may extract the URL of the requested Web pageand the IP address of the server that hosts the Web page from the secondrequest. The extracted URL and IP address may be used to compare withthe information stored in table 206. If the table 206 contains theextracted URL and/or IP address, that means the requested document hasbeen previously requested and the requested document may contain a virusand/or spyware. If the table 206 contains the extracted URL and/or IPaddress, the information regarding the previously detected virus and/orspyware is retrieved from table 206. This information may be used toform a reason explaining why the connection was terminated. Thereafter,a page containing the reason is then returned to the client. As aresult, the client would know why the connection has been terminated. Inone embodiment, the content stored in table 206 may be hashed using ahash function according to a predetermined hash algorithm such as SHA-1or MD5, etc. Note that some or all of the components of network accessdevice 201 may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination ofboth.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for content scanningaccording to one embodiment of the invention. Note that process 300 maybe performed by processing logic which may include software, hardware,or a combination of both. For example, process 300 may be performed bynetwork access device 201 of FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, according toone embodiment, at block 301, a request is received from a client foraccessing a document hosted by a remote facility (e.g., a Web pagehosted by a Web server). For example, the request may be received at anetwork access device (e.g., gateway device) from a client of a localarea network (LAN) trying to access or download a Web page of a remoteWeb server over a wide area network (WAN) such as Internet. At block302, at least a portion of the requested document is downloaded from theremote facility. At block 303, the downloaded portion of the document isexamined to determine whether the document contains certain offensivedata, such as, for example, viruses or spywares. In one embodiment, atleast a portion of the document is downloaded and examined at a networkaccess device, for example, via an anti-virus module of the networkaccess device. In one embodiment, the document is transmitted to theclient while being examined by the network access device (also referredto as resemble-free scanning).

Once the offensive data is identified, at block 304, the connection withthe remote facility is terminated and at least a portion (e.g.,remaining portion) of the document would not be transmitted to theclient. As result, the client would not be able to reconstruct thedocument and the offensive data would not be replicated. In addition, atblock 305, an identifier of the document, such as, for example, the URLof the document and/or the address (e.g., IP address) of the remotefacility may be stored in a data structure or database, which may bemaintained locally within the network access device or remotely butaccessible by the network access device. For example, the identifier ofthe document containing offensive data may be maintained in a failedrequest table as described above. At block 306, information regardingthe identified offensive data may also be stored in the data structureor database. For example, information regarding the identified offensivedata may include the identification of the offensive data and/or thereasons why the connection has been terminated, etc. Note that at leasta portion of the document is downloaded only if the failed request datastructure does not indicate that the same document has been previouslyrequested and contains offensive data. Other information may also beincluded.

Once the network connection is terminated because of the offensive data,at least a portion of the document would not be transmitted to theclient. As a result, the client would not be able to reconstruct thedocument and may receive a blank page or a default page such as timeoutnotification, etc. As described above, a user of the client tends toreload the same document, for example, by clicking a “refresh” button ofa browser to retry downloading the same document. FIG. 4 is a flowdiagram illustrating a process for processing such a refresh user actionaccording to one embodiment of the invention. Note that process 400 maybe performed by processing logic which may include software, hardware,or a combination of both. For example, process 400 may be performed bynetwork access device 201 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 4, at block 401, a request is received from a clientfor accessing a document hosted by a remote facility (e.g., a Web pagehosted by a Web server). For example, such a request may be a subsequentrequest (e.g., a “refresh” request) from the client in response to aprevious failed request because of offensive data detected in theprevious request. In response to the request, at block 402, processinglogic examines the failed request table to determine whether anidentifier of the requested document such as the URL of the documentand/or address of the remote facility can be found in a data structureor database, such as a failed request table described above. Asdescribed above, when a previous request for accessing the same documentfailed because of the offensive data, the identifier of the document, aswell as information about the offensive data, would have been stored inthe failed request table. At block 403, if the identifier of the requestis found in the failed request table, processing logic retrieves theinformation (including the reasons why the previous access failed)regarding the offensive data from the failed request table. At block404, the retrieved information is returned (e.g., in a HTML page) to theclient without accessing the requested document of the remote facility.As a result, the client would have known the reasons why the requesteddocument would not be obtained. Other operations may also be performed.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a data structurefor storing information regarding previous requests according to oneembodiment of the invention. For example, data structure 500 may beimplemented as part of a table or database such as table 206 of FIG. 2.Referring to FIG. 5, according to one embodiment, data structure 500 mayinclude multiple entries. Each entry includes field 501 to store anidentifier of the previously requested document such as the URL and/oraddress of the computing node hosting the document. In addition, eachentry includes field 502 to store information regarding the detectedoffensive data such as identification of the offensive data and/orreasons why the previous access failed. In one embodiment, field 501and/or field 502 may be hashed using a hash function (e.g., SHA-1 orMD5) to improve storage space and speed. Further, the data structure 500may be implemented in a LRU (least recently used) manner to furtherreduce the storage space.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a process for generating a failed requestdata structure according to one embodiment. Note that process 600 may beperformed by processing logic which may include software, hardware, or acombination of both. For example, process 600 may be implemented as partof blocks 305 and 306. Referring to FIG. 6, at block 601, processinglogic receives a message indicating that an attempt to access a documenthosted by a remote facility (e.g., Web page hosted by a Web server) hasbeen terminated because the document contains offensive data (e.g.,viruses or spywares, etc.) In response to the message, at block 602,processing logic extracts the identifier of the requested document, suchas the URL of the document and/or address of the remote facility. Atblock 603, optionally, processing logic performs a hash operation on theextracted information as well as the information identifying theoffensive data using a hash algorithm (e.g., SHA-1 or MD-5). At block604, the information is stored in a data structure (e.g., failed requesttable). Other operations may also be performed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a network of computer systems, which may be usedwith an embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 7, a network 700includes a number of client computer systems that are coupled togetherthrough an Internet 722. It will be appreciated that the term “Internet”refers to a network of networks. Such networks may use a variety ofprotocols for exchange of information, such as TCP/IP, ATM, SNA, SDI.The physical connections of the Internet and the protocols andcommunication procedures of the Internet are well known to those in theart. It will be also appreciated that such systems may be implemented inan Intranet within an organization.

Access to the Internet 722 is typically provided by Internet serviceproviders (ISPs), such as the ISP 724, and the ISP 726. Users on clientsystems, such as the client computer systems 702, 704, 718, and 720,generally obtain access to the Internet through Internet serviceproviders, such as ISPs 724 and 726. Access to the Internet mayfacilitate transfer of information (e.g., email, text files, mediafiles, etc.) between two or more digital processing systems, such as theclient computer systems 702, 704, 718, and 720 and/or a Web serversystem 728.

For example, one or more of the client computer systems 702, 704, 718,and 720 and/or the Web server 728 may provide document presentations(e.g., a Web page) to another one or more of the client computer systems702, 704, 718, and 720 and/or Web server 728. For example, in oneembodiment of the invention, one or more client computer systems 702,704, 718, and 720 may request to access a document that may be stored ata remote location, such as the Web server 728. In the case of remotestorage, the data may be transferred as a file (e.g., download) and thendisplayed (e.g., in a window of a browser) after transferring the file.In another embodiment, the document presentation may be stored locallyat the client computer systems 702, 704, 718, and/or 720. In the case oflocal storage, the client system may retrieve and display the documentvia an application, such as a word processing application, withoutrequiring a network connection.

The Web server 728 typically includes at least one computer system tooperate with one or more data communication protocols, such as theprotocols of the World Wide Web and, as such, is typically coupled tothe Internet 722. Optionally, the Web server 728 may be part of an ISPwhich may provide access to the Internet and/or other network(s) forclient computer systems. The client computer systems 702, 704, 718, and720 may each, with appropriate Web browsing software, access data, suchas HTML document (e.g., Web pages), which may be provided by the Webserver 728.

The ISP 724 provides Internet connectivity to the client computer system702 via a modem interface 706, which may be considered as part of theclient computer system 702. The client computer systems 702, 704, 718,and 720 may be a conventional data processing system, such as a desktopcomputer, a “network” computer, a handheld/portable computer, a cellphone with data processing capabilities, a Web TV system, or other typesof digital processing systems (e.g., a personal digital assistant(PDA)).

Similarly, the ISP 726 provides Internet connectivity for the clientcomputer systems 702, 704, 718, and 720. However, as depicted in FIG. 7,such connectivity may vary between various client computer systems, suchas the client computer systems 702, 704, 718, and 720. For example, asshown in FIG. 7, the client computer system 704 is coupled to the ISP726 through a modem interface 708, while the client computer systems 718and 720 are part of a local area network (LAN). The interfaces 706 and708, shown as modems 706 and 708, respectively, may represent an analogmodem, an ISDN modem, a DSL modem, a cable modem, a wireless interface,or other interface for coupling a digital processing system, such as aclient computer system, to another digital processing system.

The client computer systems 718 and 720 are coupled to a LAN bus 712through network interfaces 714 and 716, respectively. The networkinterface 714 and 716 may be an Ethernet-type, asynchronous transfermode (ATM), or other type of network interface. The LAN bus is alsocoupled to a gateway digital processing system 710, which may providefirewall and other Internet-related services for a LAN. The gatewaydigital processing system 710, in turn, is coupled to the ISP 726 toprovide Internet connectivity to the client computer systems 718 and720. The gateway digital processing system 710 may, for example, includea conventional server computer system. Similarly, the Web server 728may, for example, include a conventional server computer system.

In one embodiment, the local area network 712 may be local wirelessnetwork (e.g., a home network) and the gateway 710 may include awireless access point (also referred to as a base station) to one ormore clients 718 and 720 using a variety of wireless networkingprotocols; for example, the IEEE 802.xx protocols including Wi-Fi and/orBluetooth protocols. In a further embodiment, the gateway 710 may accessthe server 728 via dialup network services using a modem.

According to one embodiment, techniques of content scanning (e.g.,antivirus scanning), described above may be implemented with any of thenetwork access devices, such as, modems 706 and 708, and/or gateway 710.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a digital processing system which may beused with one embodiment of the invention. For example, the system 800shown in FIG. 8 may be used as a client computer system such as clients704-705 of FIG. 7. Alternatively, the exemplary system 800 may beimplemented as a network access device 702, etc.

Note, that while FIG. 8 illustrates various components of a computersystem, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture ormanner of interconnecting the components, as such details are notgermane to the present invention. It will also be appreciated thatnetwork computers, handheld computers, cell phones, and other dataprocessing systems which have fewer components or perhaps morecomponents may also be used with the present invention. The computersystem of FIG. 8 may, for example, be an Apple Macintosh computer or anIBM compatible PC.

As shown in FIG. 8, the computer system 800, which is a form of a dataprocessing system, includes a bus 802 which is coupled to amicroprocessor 803 and a ROM 8011, a volatile RAM 805, and anon-volatile memory 806. The microprocessor 803, which may be, forexample, an Intel processor or a PowerPC processor, is coupled to cachememory 804 as shown in the example of FIG. 8. The bus 802 interconnectsthese various components together and also interconnects thesecomponents 803, 8011, 805, and 806 to a display controller and displaydevice 808, as well as to input/output (110) devices 810, which may bemice, keyboards, modems, network interfaces, printers, and other deviceswhich are well-known in the art.

Typically, the input/output devices 810 are coupled to the systemthrough input/output controllers 809. The volatile RAM 805 is typicallyimplemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) which requires power continuously inorder to refresh or maintain the data in the memory. The non-volatilememory 806 is typically a magnetic hard drive, a magnetic optical drive,an optical drive, or a DVD RAM or other type of memory system whichmaintains data even after power is removed from the system. Typically,the non-volatile memory will also be a random access memory, althoughthis is not required.

While FIG. 8 shows that the non-volatile memory is a local devicecoupled directly to the rest of the components in the data processingsystem, it will be appreciated that the present invention may utilize anon-volatile memory which is remote from the system, such as a networkstorage device which is coupled to the data processing system through anetwork interface such as a modem or Ethernet interface. The bus 802 mayinclude one or more buses connected to each other through variousbridges, controllers, and/or adapters, as is well-known in the art. Inone embodiment, the I/O controller 809 includes a USB (Universal SerialBus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals. Alternatively, I/Ocontroller 809 may include an IEEE-1394 adapter, also known as FireWireadapter, for controlling FireWire devices. Other components may also beincluded.

Thus, techniques of notification for reassembly-free file scanning havebeen described herein. Some portions of the preceding detaileddescriptions have been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolicrepresentations of operations on data bits within a computer memory.These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the ways used bythose skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey thesubstance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm ishere, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence ofoperations leading to a desired result. The operations are thoserequiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, thoughnot necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or thelike.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the above discussion, itis appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

Embodiments of the present invention also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but is notlimited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks,CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), randomaccess memories (RAMs), erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs),electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), magnetic or opticalcards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purposesystems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specializedapparatus to perform the required method operations. The requiredstructure for a variety of these systems will appear from thedescription below. In addition, embodiments of the present invention arenot described with reference to any particular programming language. Itwill be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be usedto implement the teachings of embodiments of the invention as describedherein.

A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read onlymemory (“ROM”); random access memory (“RAM”); magnetic disk storagemedia; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. Itwill be evident that various modifications may be made thereto withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are,accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than arestrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for identifying offensive content, themethod comprising: receiving a request to load digital content; loadingat least a portion of the digital content; examining the at leastportion of the digital content to arrive at a determination that the atleast a portion of the digital content loaded contains offensivecontent; aborting the loading of the digital content; storing anidentifier corresponding to the digital content in a list of digitalcontent that has been determined to contain offensive content; receivinganother request to load the digital content; determining that theidentifier corresponding to the digital content is stored in the list ofdigital content that contains offensive content; and generating amessage without accessing the requested digital content, wherein themessage indicates that the attempt to access the digital content wasaborted because the digital content contains offensive data.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the message also indicates reasons why theloading of the digital content was aborted.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the identifier corresponding to the digital content identifieswhere the digital content is stored.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe digital content is stored locally.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinthe digital content is accessible without a network connection.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the digital content is stored remotely. 7.The method of claim 4, wherein the digital content is loaded withoutusing a network connection.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein thedigital content is loaded from another client computer.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the digital content is at least one of an email, adocument, a file, a text file, and a media file.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a programexecutable by a processor to perform a method for identifying offensivecontent in digital content, the method comprising: receiving a requestto load digital content; loading at least a portion of the digitalcontent; examining the at least portion of the digital content to arriveat a determination that the at least a portion of the digital contentloaded contains offensive content; aborting the loading of the digitalcontent; storing an identifier corresponding to the digital content in alist of digital content that has been determined to contain offensivecontent; receiving another request to load the digital content;determining that the identifier corresponding to the digital content isstored in the list of digital content that contains offensive content;and generating a message without accessing the requested digitalcontent, wherein the message indicates that the attempt to access thedigital content was aborted because the digital content containsoffensive data.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable storage mediumof claim 1, wherein the message also indicates reasons why the loadingof the digital content was aborted.
 12. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the identifiercorresponding to the digital content identifies where the digitalcontent is stored.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 10, wherein the digital content is stored locally. 14.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, whereinthe digital content is accessible without a network connection.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein thedigital content is stored remotely.
 16. The non-transitory computerreadable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the digital content isloaded without using a network connection.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the digitalcontent is loaded from another client computer.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the digitalcontent is at least one of an email, a document, a file, a text file,and a media file.